Concussions, Discussions, and Thresher Maws - Oh My!
by Settiai
Summary: Relationships don't spring out of nowhere. The early days of something that might become so much more. :: Set during ME1.


Someone was running their fingers through her hair.

Shepard grimaced as she slowly became aware of her surroundings, resisting the urge to let out an audible groan until she knew where she was and what had happened. Her head was pounding almost as much as it had been after Eden Prime, and the majority of her body was aching in a way that had her worried. A distant part of her hoped that she had just had a _very_ enjoyable shore leave. The realistic part of her wouldn't stop laughing at the thought that anything could be that simple.

The hand in her hair stopped moving. Judging by the slight shift of pressure, it had been pulled away.

"Commander Shepard?"

The voice saying her name was familiar, and Shepard couldn't help but feel a flare of worry when she couldn't immediately place it. She quickly opened her eyes. Or, at least, she attempted to open them. It took a few tries before they cooperated, and she almost shut them right back again when she realized just how wildly the world was spinning around her.

Chief Williams's face appeared in her vision, blurry but recognizable. It helped ground her more than Shepard wanted to admit, giving her eyes something to focus on and try to regain their equilibrium.

"Commander?" Ashley repeated, a worried look on her face. "Shepard, are you with me?"

Shepard finally let out the groan she'd been holding back. "What's our status?" she asked, trying to keep her voice steady. Judging by the look on Ashley's face, she hadn't quite succeeded.

Ashley hesitated. It was only for a second, but it was enough for Shepard to notice and immediately narrow her eyes. At which point her pounding head made it clear that it didn't approve of that action, but it was too late to stop by then.

"Chief?" Shepard prompted.

"How much do you remember?" Ashley asked, biting her lip slightly. It was oddly endearing on her.

Shepard frowned at the question. Her thoughts were still a bit murky, although her vision was at least starting to clear. She suspected that she possibly had a mild concussion, but she couldn't quite remember what it was they had been doing before—before—

"Ash," Shepard said slowly, mentally taking note of just how surprised Ashley looked by the use of her given name, "please tell me we killed the Thresher Maw."

"We killed the Thresher Maw," Ashley repeated obediently, without even a second's hesitation.

Shepard sighed. "I'm sensing a 'but' coming."

Ashley had the good grace to at least pretend to look sheepish. "It did a pretty good job of trying to kill us first."

Shepard let out a slow breath before carefully pushing herself up into a sitting position. She regretted it almost instantly, but she did her best not to let it show on her face.

Ashley made a sound that might have been a protest, but she cut it off before it actually made it into words. Rank had its privilege, Shepard supposed.

"Where's Tali?" Shepard asked, not even attempting to keep the worry out of her voice.

"Don't worry, Commander," Ashley said quickly, "she's fine. She's working on the Mako, trying to get communications up and running."

Shepard let her gaze drift around them as she attempted to get her bearings. It looked as if Ashley had been letting Shepard's head rest in her lap while she'd been unconscious. They were sitting on a rocky hill, no sign of the Mako anywhere that Shepard could see.

"Don't take this the wrong way, Chief," Shepard said slowly, "but where—"

"There's a little valley just past that hill over there," Ashley said, gesturing with her hand as she cut Shepard off. "The Mako ended up landing in it. Mostly."

Shepard frowned. "Mostly?"

Ashley surreptitiously reached over put her hand on Shepard's shoulder. Shepard frowned. She hadn't even realized that she was tilting somewhat to the right until the Chief had steadied her. She mentally upgraded her possible concussion to a definite one.

"I'm going to assume you don't remember falling out of the giant gaping hole in the side of the Mako as we went flying through the air?" Ashley asked, her voice a bit too casual.

Shepard stared at her. Then she looked back in her memories, finding a few vague ones that seemed to fit that description much more closely than she was comfortable with.

"Damn," she said finally. "Vakarian is never going to let me hear the end of this one, is he?"

Ashley laughed at that. "I think he secretly likes putting the Mako back together when it comes back damaged. It must be a turian thing."

Shepard chuckled a bit at that. "I think it's more of a male thing."

"That too," Ashley agreed wholeheartedly.

Still smiling, Shepard closed her eyes for a moment and tried to will her headache away. She mentally ran through her various limbs, categorizing her injuries the best she could. Nothing felt broken, and she was fairly certain Ashley would have noticed internal bleeding or anything else along those lines. She was going to have some fairly impressive bruises, but other than that the concussion was probably the most serious injury.

The fingers were running through her hair again.

Shepard's eyes shot open, and she spun around to face Ashley. Her body let her know just how little it cared for that reaction almost instantly, and if it hadn't been for Ashley's quick reflexes Shepard suspected she would have ended up completely sprawled on the ground. As it was, she found herself wrapped in Ashley's arms.

"Can you maybe not make any sudden movements, ma'am?" Ashley asked, her tone just casual enough for Shepard to tell that it was completely put on. "I'm fairly certain letting your C.O. end up falling facedown in the dirt could be considered a court martial offense."

"It's not the only thing about this mission that could be a court martial offense," Shepard shot back.

Ashley went still.

Inwardly chastising herself, Shepard awkward untangled herself from Ashley's suddenly lax grip. "Chief, I—"

"I know how the chain of command works, Commander," Ashley said quietly, cutting her off. "I'm sorry if I did anything inappropriate. It won't happen again."

Shepard sighed. "Ashley," she said, trying to be gentle and firm at the same time. "I wasn't talking about—well, that. If I was that hung up about the chain of command, things wouldn't have gone this far and you know it."

Ashley stared blankly at her for a moment. Then her eyes widened. "Oh," she said. "Shit. You remember me disobeying that direct order, don't you?"

"You know," Shepard said, not even trying to hide her smile, "most people wouldn't ignore their C.O. telling them not to starting shooting at a Thresher Maw while on foot."

Ashley gave her a tentative smile of her own. "What can I say? I'm not most people."

"Believe me, I've noticed."

Shepard reached out and carefully brushed some strands of hair out of Ashley's face. Her normally tight bun had come somewhat undone, and a good third of her hair was hanging loosely down around her face. It made her look almost like a completely different person.

Ashley leaned a little closer, her expression unreadable. Not for the first time since they had started dancing around each other, Shepard wanted nothing more than to sweep her up and kiss her thoroughly.

Above them, the unmistakable sound of a shuttle hitting the atmosphere cracked through the air.

Shepard sighed as Ashley instantly pulled away. Shaking her head, she offered Ashley her arm, even though both of them knew she was the one who needed the support if she was going to drag herself over to the Mako without ending up more injured than she already was.

"Come on, Ashley. I think they're waiting for us."


End file.
